


Mistletoe

by FrozenSnares



Series: Benefits of Detention [3]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Kissing, Some Swearing, a christmas fic, because I can't stop writing, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2832011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenSnares/pseuds/FrozenSnares
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shireen goes over to meet the Stark Family for Christmas, and bites off a little bit more than she can chew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

> This is super rough because I did it in one go. I hope you like it anyway.

Christmas was fast approaching, and Rickon’s family was starting to drop hints about seeing Shireen. Bran was the most subtle, only asking if Rickon wanted to talk about anything. Arya had mentioned it during a trip down with Gendry. Sansa had called him several times about how he owed her. Jon and Ygritte had been quite pushy about the possibility of seeing Rickon’s girlfriend. Robb had even tried to guilt trip Rickon about it until Rickon reminded Robb that he had a child to be worrying about.

His parents on the other hand, made no mention of it. At least, they hadn’t mentioned it explicitly. However, his mother did ask him how many people she needed to cook dinner for on Christmas.

It was all very irritating, and Rickon decided that he’d just make the leap and ask Shireen if she wanted to come over for Christmas. Or course, instead of asking her like a normal person, he just kind of spewed it out after school with a, “So do you want to come over for Christmas?”

Shireen blinked at him. “What?”

“Christmas,” Rickon said, like it explained anything. “Something about presents and tree, maybe some Jesus fellow, I’m mostly into it for the presents… do you want to come over? If you’re not doing anything…”

Shireen laughed. “I’ll check our plans and let you know.”

“Um, you can invite your dad, too, if you want,” Rickon added sheepishly.

“You want my dad to go over, too?” Shireen questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

Rickon shrugged. “I mean, it feels right that he’d also be invited.”

“I’ll ask him about it,” Shireen said, trying to suppress her laughter. “Shall I call you tonight with the verdict?”

Fiddling with his fingers, Rickon mumbled, “Yeah, I guess.”

Stretching up onto her toes, Shireen pressed a kiss to Rickon’s cheek. “I should probably wear heels, too, huh?”

Rickon laughed, patting her head. “You don’t need to,” he said. “You’re adorably small.”

“I’m older than you, you know,” Shireen pointed out. She crossed her arms for good measure.

“Oh, I’m not forgetting that anytime soon,” Rickon said, leaning down to kiss her properly. “Next year, I’ll get to brag to everyone that I’m dating a college girl.”

Shireen rolled her eyes at him. “I’ll call you tonight, Rickon.”

\--

And now, Rickon was waiting anxiously in his living for Shireen to arrive. Stannis had made other plans for Christmas, so Shireen would be driving herself over. Rickon had offered to drive her, but he was still two years away from getting his license.

“Nervous, little brother?” Jon asked, sitting down next to Rickon.

In truth, Jon was only his half-brother. Eddard Stark didn’t exactly have the cleanest record, and Jon had happened just before his marriage to Catelyn. Still, they treated Jon like family even though Catelyn insisted that he not take the family name.

“I wouldn’t have to be nervous if our family acted like regular people,” Rickon said. He was glancing out the front window every few seconds.

“That’s no fun,” Jon said. “Besides, we’re not going to try to scare her away. It’s just Christmas. It’s not like it’s game night. Although, I can suggest that to Robb…”

Rickon rounded on Jon. “If you even think about, you are not leaving this house safely.”

“Easy, little one,” Jon said. “I’m not trying to hurt your chances. It’s great that you have a girlfriend. Although, it will be illegal in a year or so I’m told…”

“You people talk too much,” Rickon groaned. Rickon heard the faint hum of an engine approaching. He immediately jumped out of his seat. 

Jon snorted. “You’re whipped.”

“Shut up,” Rickon snapped. “And you say nothing about her until I come back.”

Rickon raced out the front door and ran up to Shireen’s door. He opened it for her and gave her a hand to help her out.

“Merry Christmas,” Shireen said. “Did you abandon your family to say hi? I can walk, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Rickon said. He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. “I just want to apologize for how terrible my family’s going to be. And if they ask about game night, please just—”

Shireen silenced him with a kiss. “Rickon, they are not going to scare me off,” she said forcefully. “You can let them try all they want, and I will still be here for you.”

“Gods, you’re perfect,” Rickon said, pulling her in for another kiss.

Pushing him away, Shireen broke their kiss. “Since you are here, you can help me carry things in.”

Shireen placed two platters of food into Rickon’s arms. Then, she gathered up presents from the backseat of her car. Rickon shook his head at her. Eventually they started the walk back up to the Stark household. Before he opened the door, a howl came from the backyard.

“Shaggy knows you’re here,” Rickon said. “He’ll be expecting attention.”

“I’ll make sure not to let him down,” Shireen said, stepping into the house.

The entire Stark family and all their guests were gathered in the living room, peeking into the hall. Rickon stopped himself from swearing at them.

“Guy, this is Shireen,” he said slowly, giving Jon a glare. “Shireen, this is my family.”

“Hello,” Shireen said, stepping forward. “I’ve brought you presents.”

Robb cleared his throat from the back of the room. “Rickon, if you’ve been secretly dating Santa’s daughter, I just want to let you know that I am a-okay with that,” he said.

Rickon shot a glare at Robb, effectively silencing him. “She also brought food.”

At that, Catelyn stepped forward, going into hostess mode. She took the food from Rickon and set it in the kitchen. Then she came back and took Shireen’s presents, setting down under their Christmas tree. All Rickon noticed was that his family was still staring at her grayed cheek.

Gripping Shireen’s hand, he pulled her to the backyard. “Let’s go say hi to Shaggy.”

They made it outside before the Stark children came running out, trying to stop Shireen. By the time they got outside, Shaggydog was already curled up around Shireen’s feet, sniffing at her legs.

“I can’t believe it,” Arya said from behind them. “Shaggy doesn’t listen to anyone.”

Rickon snorted. “If you keep Nymeria tame, I’ll give you five dollars.”

“Deal,” Arya said. “Nymeria! Come say hi to Gendry!”

A mass of gray fur ran up the house, landing on Arya’s face and licking her everywhere.

“I really should have kept going to get five dollars out of her,” Rickon said, mostly to himself.

“Rickon,” Shireen called. “I’m stuck.”

Rickon looked over to Shireen. She was indeed stuck. Shaggydog had completely covered her feet, making it almost impossible for her to move. Rickon couldn’t help but get caught up thinking about her legs. However, someone rather intentionally bumped into his shoulder.

“Definitely whipped,” Jon murmured.

Rickon held out a hand to Shireen. “Just come here,” he said. “Shaggy’s got to learn eventually.”

Shireen stepped out of the mound of fur carefully, but she still managed to trip into Rickon’s arms.

Rickon bit the inside of his lip to stop himself from kissing her again. While he very much wanted to, and while he didn’t particularly care if his family saw them, he really didn’t want them to spend the rest of their time teasing him about it.

“Let me introduce you to everyone,” Rickon said, slowly walking her around.

Shireen met Arya who had managed to get Nymeria under control, and then she met Arya’s boyfriend Gendry who looked really familiar for some reason. After that, Jon forced his way forward and spent his entire introduction trying to poke fun at Rickon until Ygritte pulled him away with apologies to Shireen. Robb and Jeyne would have been better to deal with, but Jeyne would not stop staring at Shireen’s cheek. Rickon steered them away as soon as possible. Bran and Meera were almost too kind to Shireen, stopping for her several minutes just to talk. They eventually made their way over to Sansa who immediately hit it off with Shireen. Sansa even managed to mention her grayed cheek without offending her, and Sandor’s presence made Shireen much less tense.

Rickon flopped onto a couch after all the introductions had been made. His family was way too big. He had even completely ignored the dogs, unlike Arya. Arya had forced Gendry to memorize all their dogs’ names when he met all of them. Shireen took a careful seat beside him.

“What were you so worried about?” she asked him. “They’re all really nice.”

“Yeah, I think they might be planning something,” he said, narrowing his eyes at the dining room. “They’re never this well-behaved.”

Shireen grabbed onto Rickon’s hand. “Let’s just enjoy this,” she said. “It is Christmas.”

Catelyn called everyone in for dinner, and Rickon braced himself for a new level of torture. He didn’t even have to wait very long. 

“So how did you meet our little brother?” Arya asked Shireen. “You guys don’t exactly seem like you travel in the same circles.”

Rickon gripped onto his fork tightly. So that was going to be their strategy: remind them of all the reasons why they shouldn’t be together. Luckily, Shireen was great at smoothing out conversation.

“Our circles have grown quite close actually,” she said. “But we met in detention.”

Bran looked confused. “You got detention?”

“I was, er, moderating it,” Shireen tried. “I’m a teacher’s aide.”

Rickon relaxed a bit while the conversation bounced around the table. He just needed to make it through dinner, and then they could escape until present-opening. His family was not on board.

“So you’re going off to college next year?” Jon asked.

“Yup,” Shireen said. “I haven’t heard back from anywhere yet, but I kind of want to go up to Winterfell.”

At the head of the table, Ned nodded his approval. “We have property up in Winterfell,” he said. “If you ever want to visit, just let me know.”

“Of course,” Shireen said. “That’s where Stark Enterprises was founded, right?”

Another round of bouncing conversation. Shireen was really good at this. Rickon gave her a small smile. He was going to have to keep this girl. As if reading his mind, Robb turned the conversation back to Shireen.

“So have you thought about getting married or having kids in the future?” Robb asked.

“Not everyone wants kids at seventeen, Robb,” Rickon shot at him.

Shireen put a hand on his arm to calm him down. “Well, both of those require two people,” Shireen said. “If I had another, I might not mind marriage. I don’t think I want kids, though.”

Sansa looked concerned. “Why not?”

Shireen faltered. “Because it might be hereditary,” she mumbled.

“I’m sorry,” Sansa said. “I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine,” Shireen said. “I mean, it’s there. I can’t exactly ignore it like Rickon can.”

Rickon was blinking absently at Shireen. He couldn’t stop mouthing ‘hereditary’ and thinking it through: Shireen didn’t want kids because they might look like her. But she was beautiful, why would she care? It should be her decision, though. Of course, he’d leave it to her.

“Rickon,” his mother said, breaking his train of thought. “You were asked a question.”

“Right,” Rickon said. He was still staring at Shireen. “Question… It’s hereditary?”

Shireen nodded. “Probably,” she mumbled, turning slightly away.

Across the table, someone snorted. “Never even asked about it,” Robb said.

Rickon stood up suddenly. “It’s because I never cared about it!” he shouted back. 

Everyone at the table froze. Shireen grabbed onto his hand and pulled him back into his seat. Rickon turned to look at her. Her eyes were shining. Shireen rubbed her hand up and down Rickon’s leg, soothing him slightly. He grasped onto her hand, squeezing it gently.

“Rickon, why don’t you excuse yourself?” his mother said.

With a deep breath, he left the table and went upstairs to his room.

Okay. So maybe he should have asked Shireen about it. It was there. He knew it was there. It just never seemed important to him. There were lots of things that he just didn’t care about. Shireen never bothered asking about his past, so he had done the same with hers. It wouldn’t change who she was. And he just wanted her.

A small knock came from his door before it swung open. Shireen was standing there, looking at Rickon with slightly wet eyes. Rickon rushed forward to pull her into a hug. He pressed her face against his chest.

“I’m sorry about them,” he said. He lifted a hand to cup her face and look her in the eyes. “It’s my fault. I didn’t think they’d go so far. And I was blindsided by that.”

Shireen was shaking her head. “It’s not your fault,” she said. “You were always like this, ever since you saw me. It’s okay.”

Rickon swallowed. “Should we talk about it?”

“Only if you want to,” Shireen said. “Although, you’re a little young to be thinking about kids.”

Moving onto his bed, Rickon pulled her onto his lap. “Definitely wasn’t thinking about kids,” Rickon said. “But if it helps, I don’t want anything you don’t want. You call the shots. Always.”

Shireen shook her head. “Not always,” she said. “But we can work through it together.”

Rickon nodded. “Deal,” he said, pulling her flush against his body and kissing her soundly on the lips. 

Family be damned. If Rickon wanted to kiss his girlfriend and let her know that she was the most beautiful woman on the planet, then he would. She deserved it.

Another knock came from the door. Rickon groaned, but he sat up. Before he went to open the door, Shireen adjusted his shirt and fixed his hair.

Rickon opened the door slowly. “Fuck off, Robb.” 

Robb raised his hands in surrender. “I deserve that,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. I shouldn’t have been teasing you. We cool?”

Rickon made a big deal of looking over to Shireen. “It’s not me you have to apologize to.”

Robb went to one knee in front of her. “Shireen, my dearest lady, would you please grace me with your forgiveness for my disrespectful behavior?”

“You can say no,” Rickon pointed out.

“I’ll only forgive you if you stop messing with Rickon,” Shireen said. “He has enough to deal with.”

Robb held out a hand. “I can accept that.”

Shireen shook his hand.

“Now, get out,” Rickon said, leaning against the door.

“Alright… and Mom’s giving you leeway until presents,” Robb said. He lowered his voice as he crossed Rickon. “But if you’re going to bang her in here, you should be careful.”

Rickon shoved him out the door and slammed the door shut. “My _fucking_ family, I swear…”

Shireen looked confused. “What did he—”

“Don’t ask,” Rickon said. “Please.”

Shireen gestured to the space beside her. Rickon went over and bent himself around her. He carefully moved her hair off her shoulders before he started planting kisses across her collarbone. He worked his way up her neck slowly before she stopped him.

“If you keep going, someone is going to notice,” Shireen said.

“Let them.”

Rickon kissed her fully on the mouth in a long, lingering kiss before there was another knock at the door. They pulled apart as the door swung open.

“Presents!” Arya called before running off.

“That’s our cue,” Rickon said, stretching.

Shireen reached forward to fix his shirt again. Rickon smoothed down her hair before they went downstairs.

“If you flee, I won’t tell anyone,” Rickon whispered to Shireen.

“I can handle it, Rickon,” Shireen said, leading him into the living room.

Present-opening went surprisingly well. Sansa kept everyone in line and silenced everyone before they could address Rickon or Shireen. Only Arya was jumping around excessively, and Gendry managed to settle her down before anything bad could happen. Rickon was beginning to feel like the night might actually end well.

When all of the presents were opened, Catelyn turned to Shireen. “We didn’t get you anything, dear.”

“I’m sure Rickon can give her something,” Jon muttered.

All the women in the room stared him down at once. Ygritte leaned over and pinched Jon’s ear. He cowered back into his space, hiding from everyone else.

Rickon managed to work Shireen out of the living room and into the entryway. “I told you they were horrible,” he said. He opened the front door and led her outside.

“They’re not that horrible,” Shireen said.

“Yes, they are.”

“They’re just family,” Shireen said. “I don’t have a big family. It’s just different.”

“Maybe next Christmas, I can go over to your house instead,” Rickon offered.

Shireen made a face. “We don’t really do much for Christmas.”

“Then it’ll be perfect,” Rickon said. He ran his fingers through her hair. “Let me know when you’re home safe?”

Shireen nodded, meeting his eyes. Rickon tried to keep his head on straight, but he was getting lost in her eyes again.

Someone tapped on the window behind them. Rickon turned to glare at the offending family member. They were probably all spying on him. Bran appeared to be at the window by himself. He was pointing to a spot just over Rickon’s head. Rickon looked up. Mistletoe.

Rickon turned his back to Bran, facing Shireen squarely.

“You don’t have to,” Shireen said, looking away.

“Who cares about them?” Rickon said. He turned her back to him and leaned down until his lips were at her ear. “All I know is that I have a beautiful girlfriend and another reason to kiss her.”

Shireen was blushing fiercely. Rickon kissed her firmly on the cheek before he captured her lips. Rickon could tell that she was expecting a peck on the lips, so he pulled her in for a full, passionate kiss. Shireen was breathless when he finally broke the kiss.

“Merry Christmas, Shireen.”


End file.
